2010 World Cup USA Watch-Controlling Our Destiny

“I think this team has shown that it keeps fighting until the end and we have now had the experience of pushing games when we’re behind. It’s a credit to the mentality of the players and to the fact that they’re going to fight for 90 minutes every game. We have a third match where we still have the chance to determine our ability to move into the final round.” U.S. head coach Bob Bradley.

Thanks to a scoreless draw between England and Algeria, Team USA is in control of its soccer destiny heading into Tuesday's final match with Algeria.

Thanks to being robbed by referee Koman Couilibaly of a Maurice Edu game winning goal that would have capped a World Cup comeback for the ages, Slovenia sits atop Group C with 4 standings points instead of the US. The 2-2 tie ensured we salvaged at least a point out of the mess.

The USA is tied for second in the Group C standings with England's Three Lions with Algeria at the bottom with one. Top two teams in the group advance to the knockout round and so far the USA has a 3-1 goal scoring advantage over England in that critical tiebreaker.

The Group C winner will take on the second place squad in Group D while the second place Group C team would get the Group D winner.

In Group D that looks like it will be either Germany or Ghana, with Ghana playing a crucial match against Australia later today that will break the three way logjam created by Serbia's surprising 1-0 upset of the three time world champion Germans yesterday.

It comes down to Team USA handling its business when they face Algeria's Desert Foxes on Wednesday, June 23 in Pretoria. They win, and they automatically qualify for the knockout round with 5 points.

They can potentially win Group C with a win, the English wake up and knock off Slovenia, and they maintain their plus 2 goal differential over the Three Lions.

If they draw against Algeria, they'd have 3 points, and would need a Slovenian win or a draw in the England-Slovenia match to advance provided they maintain their goal differential advantage over England.

At any rate, Team USA needs to do two things. Job One is play 90 damn minutes of soccer the way they played in the second half against Slovenia from now on.

The second thing they need to do is adopt the famous maxim of Oakland Raider owner Al Davis: Just win, baby.

Happy Juneteenth, TransGriot Readers!

I'll hopefully be chowing down on barbecue and drinking my strawberry soda at somebody's house later today.

It's a traditional thing to do during a born in Texas holiday called Juneteenth. It will also be the first one I celebrate back in the Lone Star State since I moved back here a month ago.

So what's it all about? We Texans celebrate the June 19, 1865 reading of General Order No. 3 by Union General Gordon Granger that emancipated all Texas slaves in the aftermath of the Civil War.

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.

This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Union Major General Gordon Granger, Galveston TX, June 19, 1865

From that day forward, we celebrated the day as Emancipation Day or Juneteenth. Wherever Black Texans migrated, we took the holiday with us.

So on that note, time for me to get some sleep. Have a busy day ahead of me.

Chucky's SQL Juneteenth 'Show' Contaminates Russian River Resort

You long time TransGriot readers know it's always on like Donkey Kong between me and Chuck Knipp over his New Millennium Minstrel Show.

Since Jasmyne Cannick killed an SQL show in southern Ca-lee-forn-ia, Chucky is making a trip to the Bay Area to 'perform' on of all days, Juneteenth.

Chucky is making another reprehensible appearance at the Russian River Resort, and as always controversy follows his 'act'.

San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty wrote a letter to the Russian River Resort asking them to cancel the booking.

The Russian River Resort refused to do so, so the boycott is on. A Facebook page has been launched.

The African-American community's feelings about another SQL sighting were summed up by Javana Wilson's piece in the local African-American paper SF Bayview, “…Knipp utilizes hate speech to further his economic and social status by stepping back into the 19th century to dehumanize Black people."

"I am utterly furious about his racist attacks on Black women and I expect to see the same outrage that went into protesting the performance of a Jamaican artist (Buju Banton) to be directed at Shirley Q. Liquor’s performance.”

So would I Javana, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Juneteenth Weekend Edition

Happy Juneteenth TransGriot readers!

I'm back in the Lone Star State where the holiday was born, and I'm looking forward to checking out the parade in downtown Houston parade tomorrow for the first time in nine years.

I'm also looking forward to clobbering somebody's barbecue and washing it down with strawberry soda.

Since Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of my ancestors from slavery, it's time to emancipate the truth and find out who our SUF award winner (or winners) are this week.

Seems like we had too many people to choose from this week. The usual triumvirate of Beck, Hannity and O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, BP, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Gov. Goodhair (oops) Rick Perry (R-TX), Sharron Angle, Project 21 and Rand Paul

Honorable mention to SUF Lifetime Achievement Award winner Rush Limbaugh's rotund behind for suggesting poor children should 'dumpster dive' for food and Joe Jackson for blaming his wife Katherine for Michael's death.

But this week's winner is Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

King stated on a 'white' wing radio show that President Obama has a "default mechanism" that causes him to "favor the black person" in every dispute.

He didn't stop there. King said on the House floor June 15 that the Obama administration "defaults in favor of whichever minority they think will be the one that will most likely support their party and their agenda."

Just like you default to every wingnut that supports your party and your agenda, Rep. King.

Ain't that the pot calling the kettle black, pardon the pun.

Rep. King, you wallow in racist behavior. You have defended the Confederate flag, advocated for racial profiling, referred to the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses as 'separatist groups,' said that people in the Middle East would be 'dancing in the streets' if Obama was elected because of his middle name, and was the ONLY congressman to vote against recognizing the contributions of slaves in building the U.S. Capitol building.

Rep. Steve King, shut the HELL up RACIST fool!

2010 World Cup USA Watch-We Wuz Robbed

Team USA went into today's match against Slovenia in an unusual position for a mens soccer team:

As a favorite.

But coach Bob Bradley may need to set the alarm clocks a little earlier for this team.

Once again the USA fell behind early. In the 13th minute Valter Birsa got loose and rocketed the ball past Tim Howard for a 1-0 lead.

It got worse in the 43rd minute as Zlatan Ljubjankic scores on a counterattack just before halftime to give Slovenia a 2-0 lead after the USA nearly scored an equalizing goal in the 41st minute.

The Comeback Kids were staring at a serious hole as the team trooped off the pitch into the locker room.

Whatever coach Bradley had to say, I hope he taped it for future use.

The comeback started in the 46th minute with Landon Donovan going in uncontested on the right side and blasting the ball past the Slovenia's goalkeeper Handanovic to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Team USA kept up the offense pressure despite some crappy calls from the officials and tightened up their D. Their pressure was rewarded when Michael Bradley received a headed pass from Jozy Altidore and scores to tie the match in the 81st minute.

Then in the 86th minute comes the jacked up call that if the USA fails to exit Group C, will be griped and bitched about by USA soccer fans for eternity.

Donovan is fouled (and I'm surprised the ref called it as horrible as he was) to set up a free kick. There was much pushing, shoving and holding of Dempsey, Altidore and Bocanegra going on in the penalty box that should have been called and resulted in a penalty shot.

Maurice Edu scores to give the USA what would have been a 3-2 lead, but referee Koman Couilibaly of Mali calls a foul on the USA to nullify the goal.

Excuse me?

"I still don't know why the goal was disallowed," USA coach Bob Bradley said after the match.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw that gave the USA a critical point in Group C play. They also made a little World Cup history as they became the 21st squad to be down two goals at the half but come back to get a point.

It was the first time a USA soccer squad had ever done that.

But it should have been a win and three standings points. Had the USA played 90 minutes of soccer instead of 45 minutes, it probably would be.

FIFA may not like instant replay, but in a sport that has little scoring and your chances of advancing in a World Cup final may hinge on one goal, if for none other than fair play reasons alone they should consider instituting it in certain situations.

Let's just hope this horrible call doesn't cost us any more than a critical win.

But that depends on the result of today's England-Algeria match.

We could either have hope of getting into the Knockout Round or be on the outside looking in after our final round robin match with Algeria's Desert Foxes.

2010 Blogging While Brown Conference

The third annual Blogging While Brown Conference stars today and runs through tomorrow at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC.

This conference for bloggers of color started in 2008 and its purpose according to the website is to facilitate conversations that lead to collaboration and innovation among bloggers of color, African American bloggers in particular.

Emphasis is placed on stimulating interaction between the attendees. All conference activities and events are aimed at fostering a shared experience which forms the basis of new relationships or strengthens relationships already in existence. Those relationships then form the basis of collaborations. Technology is important. The relationship between the attendees is more important.

For the most part, the Afrosphere has some blogs and bloggers who have gotten attention, but not to the extent our white counterparts do.

This conference is our way to nurture the growth of the Afrosphere, meet each other face to face, and explore ways to forge working relationships amongst each other.

This is one I would love to attend, but haven't been able to do so for various reasons.

Well, maybe next year.

Best of luck and hope this third edition of the Blogging While Brown Conference is just as successful as the previous editions.

Brittany For HD 84 Events

TransGriot Note: For you peeps in the OKC metro area or are in close enough driving proximity to check it out.

Brittany Novotny for HD 84 will have booths at two upcoming OKC Metro area festivals.

On June 26 and 27, Brittany for HD 84 will be at OKC Pride Festival at Memorial Park (36th and Classen) (just a couple of miles from HD 84). The festival is 10 am - 10 pm on Saturday, June 26 and 10 am - 3 pm.

If you stick around on Sunday, the parade will start at Memorial Park at 6 p.m. and you can march with Brittany.

On Saturday, July 3, Brittany will be taking part in the Bethany Centennial Freedom Festival! The parade starts at 10 a.m. at the SNU campus, and the festival runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. ending with what is promised to be Bethany's largest fireworks display to date!

There is a rumor that volunteers who commit to a 4 hour time slot will get a free t-shirt.

Please contact Jen Stringham at (405) 420-8295 or brittany4hd84@gmail.com to sign up for a time slot!

This is a great way to have some fun, meet some voters, and show that Brittany has a broad range of support in her campaign for the legislature!

Lisa Price, Treasurer
Brittany 4 HD 84

Utah Joins The Pac-10

Utah has been in the shadow of Brigham Young University for years and BYU alums never let them forget it or the national football title they won in 1984.

Now Utah fans have a big trump card to throw in whatever Ute-Cougar dissfest they engage in from now on: Membership in a BCS conference.

The University of Utah announced that they will be leaving the Mountain West Conference to begin playing in the Pacific-10 Conference in 2011. They join Colorado, who was extended an invitation to join the conference last week.

The Pac-10 now increases to 12 members, enough for them to split into two divisions and hold a conference championship game. The divisional setup has yet to be determined, but I think a North-South one would make the most sense.

You could have a Pac-12 North that would consist of Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Stanford.

The Pac-12 South would consist of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, USC and UCLA with the winners of each division facing each other in a championship game that could be rotated between Denver, Glendale, AZ, Los Angeles, Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area.

They'll have a few years to sort out the details, assuming that the Pac-10 is done with their eastward expansion for this round.

Calpernia's 'Bad Questions To Ask A Transsexual' Video

I had the honor and distinct pleasure of seeing Calpernia Addams again last year when she and Andrea James came to U of L to be the keynote speakers for the LGBT pride event on campus.

Their company Deep Stealth Productions put together a humorous video entitled 'Bad Questions To Ask A Transsexual' in which she points out what you don't ask us inside or outside of polite company.

The video is wildly popular and has garnered over a million views on YouTube since April 2008.

Enjoy!

Forces of Intolerance Fighting Missoula TBLG Ordinance

It's easy to pass TBLG rights ordinances. The hard part is defending them from the Forces of Intolerance.

Our friends in Missoula, MT are about to find out just how accurate that truism is. Their new law was passed in the early morning hours of April 13 and just took effect a few days ago.

But Tei Nash and his not so merry group of haters have been working to kill the bill by getting it on the ballot. They have collected signatures and filed three petitions that have failed for various reasons.

Nash's NotMyBathroom.com group filed a lawsuit this week in Missoula County District Court over its bid to get a petition off the ground to strike down the equality ordinance.

The haters named the city of Missoula and Missoula County as defendants. They allege Missoula City Attorney Jim Nugent and Missoula County Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier are thwarting their attempt to get a valid repeal petition approved.

The lawsuit does not describe the alleged delay tactics Nugent and Zeier are alleged to have engaged in, which they deny.

If the opponents had turned in enough signatures on a valid petition within 60 days of adoption, the law would have been suspended pending the results of the referendum.

The lawsuit in addition to requesting damages and attorney fees, also asks the court to stop the clock on the 60 days, "taking into account that Respondents' tactics denied Petitioners the June 8 primary voting opportunity to collect signatures."

So stay tuned, the drama in Missoula continues, and for now the new trans inclusive rights law is in full effect.

DART Committee Plays Games With Non Discrimination Policy

Remember what I wrote in the post announcing the 11-2 committee vote that ostensibly passed a revised policy with trans protections for Dallas Area Rapid Transit employees?

'If you give conservafools an inch and don't write these policies so there is no wiggle room for opponents to ignore it, they will take the nullification mile.'

Well, looks like the DART committee pulled some shady nullification crap that may have wiped out the gender identity and sexual orientation protections in one swoop, and possibly violated the Texas Open Meetings Law to do so.

Local activists who attended the meeting were concerned not only about the 30 minute executive session the committee went into just prior to the vote, but about the revised language in the proposed new policy that advances to a June 22 DART board meeting for final approval.



This is the new language in the DART non discrimination party;

DART is committed to hiring, promoting and retaining the best qualified persons in all positions and, 'EXCEPT' to the extent permitted by federal and/or Texas law, DART will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

According to John Wright of the Dallas Voice's Instant Tea blog, the DART board just played the Dallas GLBT community.

Ken Upton of Lambda Legal is quoted as saying the addition of the word EXCEPT by DART board member (and attorney) Raymond Noah (the representative for Richardson, Highland Park, Addison and University Park) into the policy in Upton's words, “They just screwed you guys over royally.”

“By adding that word in there, they’ve said we can discriminate all we want. It’s exactly the opposite of what they promised they were doing.”

“You’d like to think they’re just stupid, but the truth is you have to assume that the people who write these things at least have basic language skills,” Upton said. “Supposedly there’s at least one attorney involved, so I have to assume it’s intentional.

“That’s unfortunate they did that,” Upton added. “After all the work that’s gone into this, if this is what comes out of it, then we got nothing. They can say that’s not what they intended, but that’s what it says.”

Okay Dallas GLBT community, they just played y'all. What are you going to do about it?

“I’m highly disappointed and angry at this point,” said Rafael McDonnell, spokesman for Resource Center Dallas. “If it was their intention to make us go away, they’ve underestimated the community.”

Alright, Dallas GLBT community, go get 'em.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-Break Out The Strawberries And Cream

Wimbledon is steeped in traditions. People eat strawberries and cream and drink Pimms spritzers during matches. Players wear white tennis outfits and watch the Number one and two seeded Williams sisters beat down everybody on their way to the Wimbledon Ladies' singles and Ladies' doubles titles.

Out of all the Grand Slam tournaments, it's the one my favorite tennis playing sisters have thoroughly dominated. Serena is the defending champion, she and Big Sis have played each other in the singles championship match two straight years and are the defending Wimbledon doubles champs.

Their domination in the last decade was so thorough the All England Lawn Tennis And Croquet Club should consider renaming the Ladies' Singles championship trophy the Venus and Serena Williams Rosewater Dish.

The only years during the 2k's that someone other than a Williams has won the Ladies' singles at Wimbledon is 2004 and 2006. Maria Sharapova's straight set finals win ended Serena's bid for a threepeat. In 2006 Serena was injured and didn't play in the tournament and Venus was eliminated in the third round by Jelena Jankovic.

They come into 'Williams'-don not only shooting for a Ladies' singles championship match threepeat, they are the number one world ranked doubles team and halfway to completing a doubles Grand Slam.

In singles Serena also holds the world Number One ranking while Big Sis is the World Number Two. The Williams sisters not surprisingly are seeded Numbers one and two in Ladies' singles, and number one in Ladies' doubles.

And bad news for the rest of the world, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is the venue for the 2012 Olympic tennis competition.

London OOC, y'all may want to consider mailing the Olympic singles and doubles tennis gold medals to the Williams sisters now after you create them.

Looking forward to the start of 'Williams'-don. The draw for both the Ladies' Singles and Ladies' doubles will take place on June 18, and I'll have a better idea about who is impeding their progress to a third straight finals appearance on that date.

Strawberries and cream anyone?

2010 Black Weblog Awards

While I don't do what I do here at TransGriot for awards, it sure is nice when I get recognized for the hard work and the hours I put in to make TransGriot entertaining and informative.

The Black Blog Awards have been around since 2005, and are now in their 2010 nomination phase until July 25.

I would like to have the opportunity to compete in and hopefully win the Best LGBT Blog and Best Writing in a Blog categories this year.

But in order to be in a position to win it, I first have to get in it.

So here's where you come in loyal TransGriot readers.

I'll need your votes to get me to the point where I'm in contention for those categories. While you're at it, show Renee, my Womanist Musings homegirl some love for the 'Best International Blog' category because frankly, she's got it like that.

Here's the link to the Black Weblog Awards Nomination Page to get you started.

Thank you and here's hoping I'll have some good news to report about the 2010 BWA's in a few months.

TransGriot Nuke A Troll

Every now and then I get a comment that if it isn't outright racist or transphobic and gets flushed, makes me shake my head.

This is one of those shake my head ones I received on the 'Black Transpeople Are Tired Of The Erasure' post that purports itself to be from an African descended trans person named Latrice.

i agree i am an african american trans woman also, it is hard for us. and the stereotype against us is big, but i have to say kind of true. it is not , or nor can we blame the white trans people for moving forward when we behind , because of our own mishaps. we cant blame the white trans for being organized, and not into cutting each other out and sticking together through the cause. black people mess things up for themselves, then later on try to attack white people because they choose to do the things they do , its time out to stop putting the blame on others , and change our ways and stick together like others do , and black trans causes harm to come there way, by being loud and flamboyant in them streets, playing dangerous games, and bring a lot of not needed attention to themselves, so who can we blame but our selves. u can't get nothing for black people in general because they are lazy and don't want to do nothing until they see another person worked for it , ,and this is spoken from a black person

To borrow a line from my Original Black Voices board colleague Dymolishn, time for the USS Monica to drop 20 megatons of knowledge.

I'm going to play along and assume that Latrice is Black and trans.

Go to DEFCON 1. Tubes flooded, board is green. Release authorized, authenticated and confirmed. Begin countdown on my mark. Mark...5...4...3...2...1...launch!

it is hard for us. and the stereotype against us is big, but i have to say kind of true.

And what 'stereotype being kind of true' are you referring to, Latrice?

nor can we blame the white trans people for moving forward when we behind , because of our own mishaps.

And what mishaps are you referring to? Jim Crow segregation? The fact that African American and Latina transwomen are taking the brunt of the anti trans violence casualties? Spell it out for the TransGriot.

The white trans community has had the advantage of visibility since the early 20th century and disproportionately so since Christine Jorgenson stepped off the plane from Denmark in 1953. All we've had in terms of positive publicity is occasional pieces in JET magazines.

In addition to that, Black transpeople were a little busy along with the rest of the African American community fighting for first class citizenship, taking a major hit from the initial stages of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 80's and trying to stay employed and alive in the face of faith-based transphobia and violence.

black people mess things up for themselves, then later on try to attack white people because they choose to do the things they do ,

Your claim to Blackness just became shaky with this comment. I know plenty of white trans people who messed things up for themselves (and the community) as well.

Calling out being excluded from the leadership ranks of this community, whitewashed out of a history and a movement we helped play major roles in is not 'attacking white people'.

its time out to stop putting the blame on others , and change our ways and stick together like others do

I was part of a team of people who help put together two African American oriented trans conventions in 2005 and 2006. Others have been in leadership roles inside and outside the trans community for decades such as Earline Budd and Dr. Marisa Richmond.

Black transpeople are and have been organizing at the local, regional, national and international levels. The 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit In was a FUBU event that was the first instance of a protest focused on trans issues.

It's not anything new, we just don't get the publicity or credit for it. But when they want to portray someone as the un-transwoman, we're at the head of the line for that.

and black trans causes harm to come there way, by being loud and flamboyant in them streets, playing dangerous games, and bring a lot of not needed attention to themselves

Tyra Hunter wasn't being 'loud and flamboyant' in 1995 when DC firefighter Adrian Williams discovered her trans status, disrespected her and stopped critical medical treatment on her after a car accident that would have saved her life. Duanna Johnson wasn't being 'loud and flamboyant' when a cop decided to violate her civil rights and beat her down in a Memphis police station. Patricia Underwood and Sharon Franklin Brown weren't being 'loud and flamboyant' when they were unfairly fired from their jobs for being trans.

u can't get nothing for black people in general because they are lazy and don't want to do nothing until they see another person worked for it

Now I know you aren't black regurgitating some conservafool bull feces like that.

Most of the Black transpeople I know, myself included, work for a living and don't mind busting our butts. The one who aren't would love to have a 9 to 5 with benefits, which is why I gripe about ENDA so much.

One thing we do want is more control of our political and economic destiny. We'd like a unified national trans community, fully integrated within the leadership ranks of the national trans community, and interconnected with our African descended trans cousins across the Diaspora.

We also want the white washing of our roles in trans history to cease and desist.

If you are Black, Latrice, I'm calling the DROP Squad for you right now.

The Oppressor's Greatest Weapon

'The greatest weapon that the oppressor has in his hand is the mind of the oppressed.'

Clarence Glover wrote that in a December 1987 ESSENCE magazine essay entitled 'Spirituality: An African View'.

He's dead on target in his assessment.

When you have been beaten down by shame and guilt, told that you are insignificant, ugly, freaks, won't amount to anything, and whatever other pejorative du jour they come up with, it takes a toll on your psyche. It makes it easy for you to give in to the despair and daunting odds of reversing your negative civil rights and social situation.

If you give up before attempting anything or refuse to even make the attempt, your oppressor is smiling. At that point the oppressor has already won and you've lost.

Your first tool for taking control of your mind is knowledge. Knowledge of self. Knowledge of your history. Knowledge of current events. Knowledge of your rights under the current law.

You get the drift.

You must combine that with pride in yourself and pride in being part of a marginalized group. It's cathartic to know that you aren't alone and there are others like you.

As simplistic as that sounds, it works wonders in lifting the veil of shame and guilt so that you can get to the point that you empower yourself to fight for the civil rights that are guaranteed to you under our Constitution and the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that the Declaration of Independence so eloquently spoke of.

In order to tap into that power you have within yourself to be finer specimens of human beings as trans writer Sharon Davis called us, we have to believe it and in who we are as trans people in order to achieve the things the Creator has tasked us to do in our limited time on Earth.

Once you've taken control of your mind away from your oppressor, you can finally get to the point in which your mind works for you instead of against you.

Will There Be Any Black Trans People At This Year's White House LGBT Reception?

Various leaders in the TBLG community are have begun receiving mailed invitation for a 5 PM EDT LGBT reception being held June 22 at the White House.

If you did receive it, congrats. As for the TransGriot, I have a better chance of receiving a visit from the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol than receiving a White House invite since I've been slimed by the NCTE derriere kissing crew as a 'violent racist' and an 'uppity n****r'.

If it did show up in my mailbox, I'd probably fall over in shock.

President Obama said in his May 28 proclamation declaring this GLBT Pride Month 'our Nation draws its strength from our diversity,”

That's a lesson often lost on the GL community, especially when it comes to events like this. I'm willing to bet that when this event kicks off, there will not be one African descended transperson in the house our ancestors built.

I predict it will be an event in which once again, African American transpeople will be denied the opportunity to meet a president our votes, sweat equity and money helped put in that office.

And I'm not happy about it.

The TransGriot is definitely interested in finding out who did get invites to this event, and just how diverse it will be.

Judging from the melanin deficient one last year, I'm not holding my breath.

First Native Houstonian In Orbit

Despite the fact that Houston kids have grown up since the 1960's with NASA's Johnson Space Center in our backyard and being immersed in space flight news, it was only yesterday that we had our first native Houstonian launched into space.

Astronaut Shannon Walker accomplished that historical footnote when she blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin from the Baikonur Cosmodrome yesterday afternoon.

Her launch from Baikonur was also the 100th combined launch to the space station, including Soyuz and Russian Progress vehicles as well as the space shuttle. During Walker’s mission the ISS will mark 10 years of continual habitation.

They will dock with the International Space Station on Thursday and stay on board the ISS until November.

When the Rice University grad arrives and joins Tracy Caldwell Dyson on board the ISS, it will mark the first time that two women have served together as long-duration station residents.

But it's also cool that a native Houstonian gets an opportunity to make some of that space history.

DART Committee Advances Trans Inclusive Non Discrimination Policy

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority is one step closer to a trans inclusive non discrimination policy after voting 11-2 to advance it to the full DART board on June 22.

It's past time that happened, since the city of Dallas has had trans protections ensconced in its nondiscrimination ordinance since 2002.

The lack of a DART trans inclusive non discrimination policy led to the mistreatment of a 20 year employee known as Ms. T-DART to keep her identity secret.

Her DART supervisors had been exploiting that hole in the policy to treat Ms. T-DART in a discriminatory manner.

She was told by DART supervisors she couldn't have long hair, wear skirts at work, or use the women's restroom. Ms. T-DART was forced to show up for work in her uniform and use public restrooms on her bus route.

They even went as far as having DART lawyers contest her court ordered gender marker change and reverse it.

According to John Wright of the Dallas Voice's Instant Tea blog, the vote followed a 30 minute executive session to discuss the proposed policy behind closed doors.

There were concerns voiced amongst local activists about the wording of the amendment. Rather than simply adding “gender identity” to its existing nondiscrimination policy, DART attorneys have also inserted several clauses indicating that the policy applies only “to the extent [it is] consistent with state and federal law.”

Because neither sexual orientation nor gender identity is included in state or federal employment protections, the fear is that these clauses could be interpreted to mean the policy is moot.

And as we all know from past civil rights history, if you give conservafools an inch and don't write these policies so there is no wiggle room for opponents to ignore it, they will take the nullification mile.

Voting for the proposal were members John Danish (made motion), Loretta Ellerbe (seconded motion), Jerry Christian, Pamela Dunlop Gates, Raymond Noah, Robert Strauss, William Tsao, Tracey Whitaker, Faye Moses Wilkins, Claude Williams and William Velasco.

Voting against the proposal were members Scott Carlson who represent Dallas on the DART board, and Mark Enoch who represents Farmers Branch, Garland and Rowlett.

So circle June 22 on your calendars, Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and keep those calls and e-mails coming.

And I can't stress this enough, be respectful while doing so.

PTSS-Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Since 1865, the United States has been suffering from an unacknowledged malady, and nope, I'm not talking about racism, even though it's unfortunately still part of the American body politic. Racism predates 1865.

What I'm talking about is PTSS. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.

Even though it's been almost 150 years since my peeps emancipation from chattel slavery, whether people want to admit it or not, it has had debilitating effects on former slave and former slave owner alike.

A primary example of it happened in April with our different perceptions about the Confederacy. While whites with Southern heritage mourn the 'Lost Cause' and extol the virtues of brave Confederate soldiers, myself and other African descended Americans see them as traitorous racist oppressors who sought to keep us in permanent servitude.

It has had negative effects on our national politics and race relations. African Americans are still judged by racist myths that originated during slavery. Our negative economic status today vis a vis whites is rooted in the fact that the weatlth that whites built up was at the expense of my ancestors 246 years of uncompensated labor and then spending another 100 years locking us out of various occupations thanks to Jim Crow laws.

Some of the colorism issues we have within the African American community can be traced back to America's original sin as well.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing is a book by Portland State University professor Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary that tackles how the aftermath of slavery has negatively effected African-Americans to this day.

She argues that both overt and subtle forms of racism have damaged the collective African-American psyche—harm manifested through poor mental and physical health, family and relationship dysfunction, and self-destructive impulses.

Leary suggests that African Americans (and other people of color) can ill afford to wait for the dominant culture to realize the qualitative benefits of undoing racism. The real recovery from the ongoing trauma of slavery and racism has to start from within, she says, beginning with a true acknowledgment of the resilience of African-American culture.

Sounds like it's an intriguing book that I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to read.

DART Committee Meeting Tonight To Discuss Trans Inclusive Nondiscrimination Policy

For you peeps in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, time for y'all to be agents of your own liberation and help Ms. T-DART out at the same time.

Kelli Busey and the gang have advised me that there will be another DART committee meeting taking place tonight starting at 7 PM CDT to decide whether a proposal to amend DART's nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity will be forwarded to the full Dallas Area Rapid Transit board.

This is another chapter in an ongoing story that started with Ms. T-DART, a 20 year employee of Dallas Area Rapid Transit having her gender marker change contested and reversed in court by DART lawyers. That incident led to a proposal to amend DART's nondiscrimination policies to include trans employees.

The proposal was not forwarded to the DART board because at last month's committee meeting Committeemember Pamela Dunlop-Gates switched her YES vote to a NO one.

Ms. Dunlop-Gates cited wanting DART attorneys to clarify the “gender identity” and “genetic information” definitions as her reason for changing her vote.

Unfortunately her vote switch stopped the committee from passing the amendment of the nondiscrimination policy to the full DART Board.

I'm presuming that the meeting will be held at the same site if you wish to attend, the DART Headquarters Akard Station Board Room, at 1401 Pacific Ave in Dallas, TX.

But just to be on the safe side, here's the DART administrative office number to double check the location. 214-749-3278.

Once again transpeeps, be nice, not nasty when you call to express yourselves about how important it is that DART's trans employees be covered in the transit authority's nondiscrimination policy.

As my grandmother always said, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Now is not the time to be acting like nekulturny teabaggers.

These are the people y'all need to be calling and expressing yourselves to on the DART board who voted against passage along with Ms. Dunlop-Gates. As a warm up exercise, you may wish to call the people who supported us and say thank you to them.

DART council members who voted against passing the amendment to the DART Board:
Mr. Velasco
Mr. Strauss
Mr. Noah
Mr. Enoch
Ms. Ellerbe
Ms. Dunlop-Gates

Please contact the following Dallas city council members and ask them to pass on to the above listed Dart council members your wish that the DART nondiscrimination policy be amended to include gender identity.

David A. Neumann
Email
Phone: 214-670-0776
Fax: 214-670-5117

Delia Jasso
Email
Phone: 214-670-4052
Fax: 214-670-5117

Linda Koop
Email
Phone: 214-670-7817
Fax: 214-670-5117

If you have any questions, these are your local GLBT advocates with the answers:

Rafael McDonnell
Resource Center Dallas
Strategic Communications and Programs Manager
Email: rmcdonnell@rcdallas.org
Web Page
Phone: 214-528-0144
Fax: 214-522-4604

Patti Fink
DGLA: Dallas Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Web page
Phone: 214-528-4233
Fax: 214-521-6424

Kelli Busey
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies(DTAA)
DTAA Web site
Phone: 972-693-1988